TalkTalk is yet again the most griped about telco in Blighty

ISP still on Ofcom's naughty step

TalkTalk, for the fifth consecutive quarter, is the most whinged about telco in the UK, Ofcom confirmed today.

The communications watchdog said that TalkTalk's landline and fixed broadband services received more gripes from punters than any other of the big ISP operators in Blighty.

It found that between October and December last year, TalkTalk notched up 0.78 complaints per 1,000 landline customers.

"These have largely been driven by issues relating to billing and customer service," Ofcom said.

It added that Virgin Media, in contrast, was the least moaned about telco during the same period with 0.18 complaints per 1,000 subscribers to its landline service.

Sadly for TalkTalk the company also came off worst in the broadband service league tables. During the three months ended December 2011, the ISP "generated the most complaints as a proportion of its customer base, with 0.61 complaints per 1,000 customers", Ofcom said. The regulator added: "These were largely driven by line faults and other service issues."

Gripes raised by customers unhappy with BSkyB, on the other hand, amounted to 0.17 complaints per 1,000 punters. Virgin Media similarly fared well, with 0.18 grumbles per 1,000 customers.

The Register asked TalkTalk to explain why it hadn't substantially improved its record by now. The company gave us this statement:

We're pleased that Ofcom saw less than half as many complaints about our broadband service than this time last year.

While there will always be variations in the quarterly data we are confident that the long term trend is positive - fewer complaints, more calls being resolved first time and improving customer service.

There is more work to do but we are confident that the measures we've put in place are paying dividends.

Ofcom said that it typically received far fewer gripes from mobile customers. It found in the last quarter that Orange was the most moaned about mobile operator, with 0.17 complaints per 1,000 customers. The regulator attributed that increase in grumbles to Orange's "announcement to increase its monthly plan prices for all customers including those who were tied into existing contracts".

It added: "Ofcom received the second most complaints about mobile services from 3UK, with 0.15 complaints per 1,000 customers. These figures continue to be driven by complaints about disputed charges and customer services."

But hardly anyone complained about O2: the watchdog said it received just 0.02 gripes per 1,000 customers about that operator. ®